Farewell, Namaskar, and Thank You!

By the last night in Delhi, we could not believe the program was over. It seemed like a very long time ago that we were checking in to the Taj hotel in New Delhi as new visitors. We had seen eleven cities in five weeks, visited temples, schools, museums, and markets. We met hundreds of amazing people. I feel so excited to come back to Hannah Senesh Community Day School in Brooklyn, NY with my arms full of things I collected here. I bought books for my classroom library by contemporary Indian authors, examples of Indian clothing for my students to wear, Indian games, artwork. I have set up a correspondence with a 5th grade class in Delhi which will enhance the curricular project I will develop. With all this, I'm excited to be able to share my pictures and stories with my students to help them get to know India -- an ancient civilization and a modern nation.

Thank you Adam Grotsky, Girish Kaul and all the people at USIEF for this incredible experience.  

Rain

After only an hour at the Taj Mahal, we stopped briefly at the Agra Fort and then toured the Itmad-ud-Daula which is also known as "Baby Taj" even though it preceded it. Baby Taj is the first tomb in India built entirely out of white marble and looks like a giant marble souvenir. It's covered in marble inlay and is gorgeous. At 9:00 AM, we were the only tourists at this site so, unlike the Taj it was quiet and peaceful.

Masal dosa for lunch at a south Indian restaurant

The eternal drive back to Delhi was made even longer because of the rain. When it rains in Delhi, the streets flood and traffic is even crazier. One man on a bike tried to ride around a massive puddle/pond but had to dismount when the water was just too deep.

The Taj in the rain

The Taj Mahal even under the white overcast sky, took my breath away. I wish we could have spent a few more hours here. 

On Poverty

There are many people, old and young, begging for money and food on the streets here—more in Varanasi than in any other city we’ve visited so far. While I've seen homelessness in New York, here there are whole families living on the streets and in Varanasi there seems to be many more people, babies carrying babies, asking for food and money. We were told specifically not to give money to beggars because once one person gives, out will pour a crowd of people begging. Of course, there are many poor people who do not beg but work. The streets are filled with rickshaw pullers, fruit sellers, barbers, brick workers, small shop owners, etc. The crowds here are endless. The numbers are inconceivable. Rather than give these children money or food on the street, I would rent a bus or 100 buses and load them with families and bring them to schools and shelters like the Asha Deep Vidyashram—a non-profit school for underprivileged children (http://asha-deep.com). But, for every amazing organization that helps a few hundred children and their families, there are thousands more who remain without help. Still, places like Asha Deep are encouraging. This school children out of the slums and into the classroom with teachers who can care about them. For many of these children, because of the circumstance in which they were born, they grow up too fast. Some are chewing tobacco leaves (or betel nut) and gambling by the time they are seven years old. Some come from abusive families. Poverty is extreme. Many of the families cannot afford school fees. The fee at Asha Deep is. 20 Rupees ($.50) a month for Kindergarten-1 and goes up to 30 Rupees ($.75) in 2^nd-8^th. 

Me and Shiva

Benaras/Varanasi

Saturday night on the Ganges

Aarti is a daily puja performed at the Ganges to say good night to Mother Ganga. Since the river is so high, there is much less room on the ghats (steps down to the river) causing the banks to be much more crowded than usual. This is also the reason why we were unable to take a boat ride on the river. So, instead of watching Aarti on the ghats, we got seats on a large platform above the river. Getting there was no simple feat. Traffic along the very narrow paths included cows, goats, motorbikes, bicycles, and loads of people moving in all directions. This is also the place where many Hindus cremate their dead. So we also got a glimpse of the funerary practices. We walked through a lumberyard where wood is sold for the funeral pyres. Our guide pointed out the green bamboo stretchers on which the body is carried and the shiny gold and silver sheets sold to decorate the body. 200 cremations take place here every day. There were no pictures allowed in this area. 

Ritual objects for sale

Through all of this, we definitely stuck out as foreigners. As usual, people looked and pointed, fascinated by our skin color, hair, and bizarre way of dressing (despite our best efforts). But in Varanasi more than any other place, I felt like a participant. The people were welcoming instead of distant and we sat together with locals and pilgrims during the ceremony.

This city is known as the spiritual center of India, not only because of the Ganges but also because of the Golden Temple located along the river. Thousands of pilgrims come here during this time of year to carry Ganges water to a Shiva temple, of which there are many. Those are the people in orange. Because of the festival of Shiva and because Monday is an auspicious day for Shiva, there are many more people here than usual, and all the guys in orange are here getting water from the river and delivering it to a Shiva temple nearby. We saw lots of flower sellers—these flowers are purchased and give as offerings in the temples.

The Varanasi saree

Fried snacks

For all the Israelis here! Just in case you were wondering how to spell Krish in Hebrew...
(I haven't actually seen any Israelis here but I imagine there are loads during high season.)

Overnight Train to Varanasi

I was a little wary of taking the overnight train from Kolkata to Varanasi, but it was actually pretty clean! It wasn't exactly Darjeeling Limited, but we were in air-conditioned two tier cars with a choice of bathrooms: Indian style and European style. Without getting into too much detail, I much prefer the Indian squat toilets. They're so much easier especially on a moving train. We woke up at 6 AM and unlocked our suitcases (which were chained to the bottom of our sleeper seats). After 10 hours on the train, I had the feeling of movement all day...

Gretchen

Lily

View from top bunk (Gagan and Megan)

Good night!

American Center, Kolkata

This evening we got to see Pata Paintings (pronounced “pot” paintings) at the American Center. Artists, many of them part of the same family, came with hundreds of paintings that tell stories of village life or Indian folktales. The stories are told by singing songs that the families have passed down through the generations. 

Sister Cyril and the Loreto School Sealrah, Kolkata

Today’s visit to the Loreto School Sealrah was the sort of experience that made me question all my choices and rethink all my assumptions. Sister Cyril is changing the world. All 16 of us came for a tour of the school to learn about her work. The first thing she did when we piled into her office was read a children’s story about Peter the elephant—an elephant who takes care of all the poor children. In her Irish accent, she quickly ran through the rhymes of the story without bothering to show us the pictures. We were on a tight schedule, after all—there was no time wasted sitting down and welcoming us with hot tea and cookies. This was a refreshing change from some of our other school visits. Sister Cyril is a large woman who wears a white dress and a nun’s habit. Her back is slightly bent causing her head to face downward, which is fitting since she is  usually surrounded by children. She is like a mother elephant.

The Loreto School in Sealrah, Kolkata, is an all-girls school that is famous for accepting all students (by lottery) from the most affluent to the poorest of Calcutta’s children, the street children. Sister Cyril spoke about the vicious cycle of affluence and the vicious cycle of poverty. Her mission is to break both by creating a community where children fight for each other and teach each other.

School assembly with hand-painted rangoli
done by students.

Her mission is forward thinking, holistic, and beautifully simple. It is also incredibly thorough. As she outlined her projects for us, it seemed like there was nothing she hasn’t thought of: teacher training, curriculum development, peer tutoring, dormitories for street children, differently-abled children, children of prostitution, parents and families of street children. She has something called compulsory compassion. Students regularly go to train stations in the city and give food to beggars. Kids that used to live on the streets are now giving food to people on the street. The list goes on and on. For more information visit http://www.loretosealdah.com/.

Telephone to Jesus, telephone to Jesus every day!
Jesus says I love you, Jesus says I love you every day!
Telephone to Krishna, telephone to Krishna every day!
Krishna says I love you, Krishna says I love you every day!

A 10th-grader teaching street children the alphabet,
part of the Rainbow Children project.